Improvement in machines for cutting shingles



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H. TJDAVIS. Machine for Cutting Shingles.

No. 217,204. I Pat ented July 8, 1879.

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. 1 mm A .A. I A? C I v i I I l 2 SheetsSheet 2.. H. T. DAVIS. MachinefOrOutti-ng Shingles.

No. 217,204. Patented July 8,1879.

N-PETERB, FHDW-LITNOGRAPHER, WIJWIIGTON, D. C

' view of my apparatus.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY T; DAVIS, OF SHERMAN, TEXAS.

IMPROVEMENT IN MACHINES. FOR CUTTING SHINGLES.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 217,204, dated July 8,1879; application filed April 24, 1879.

To all whom'it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY T. DAVIS, of Sherman, in the county of Graysonand State of Texas, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement inShing1e-Machines, of which the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, formingpart of this specification.

My improvement relates to that class of shingle-machines which form theshingles by means of a knife working sidewise with the grain, andoperated. by a horse-power wheel, with arms acting on the arm of arock-shaft, carrying a wheel or segment connected to the sash-frame by acord, chain, or belt, to draw down the sash and knife,the sash beingdrawn up by a spring.

My improvement consists, in part, in providing the sash with guide-bars,to regulate the position of the block when presented to the knife, saidbars being three in number, and the middle one made more prominent thanthe others, so that the block can be rocked from side to side to givethe proper bevel to the shingles without the interposition of a rockinggage.

My improvements further consist in the combination, with avertically-reciprocating shingle-cutter, of ahorse-power and alever-armand rock-shaft for communicating motion to the cutter, a stop or bumperfor arresting the back movement of the lever-arm and steadying it priorto the contact of the next horse-power tappet, as hereinafter described.

My improvements further consist in combining, with avertically-reciprocating shinglecutter, a horizontal rock-shaft andlever, and a tappet-wheel for operating the same, a steadyin g-roller tosupport the rear side of the wheel at the time the tappets are acting onthe inclined lever of the rock-shaft, so as to hold said tappets totheir work and prevent a misstroke as the knife goes through the block.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a perspective Fig. 2 is a horizontaltransverse section of the knife-sash. Fig. 3 is a vertical sectionthrough the sash and table at w :r, Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detailed view,showing thepower-wheel and rock-shaft which carries the cord-pulleyconnected to the knifesash to cause its descent. I

A is a horse-power wheel, having arms B projecting radially from theupright wheelshaft A The shaft A turns in any suitable bearings at topand bottom.

One or more of the arms B may be made of greater length than the others,for the attachment of the horse by which the wheel is turned.

The arms B, as the wheel turns, come in contact with the arm 0 upon arook-shaft, D, extending beneath the horse-tr'ack, and having on itsother end a pulley or segment, E, attached to and coiled upon which is acord, chain, or belt, F, whose upper end is attached to the knife-sashG. The knife-sash is connected at the upper part to a lifting-spring, H.The construction is such that as the arm 0 is carried over by the arms Bthe knife-sash is drawn down, and as soon as the arm B has passed thearm 0 the spring-board H draws the sash up and draws back the arm 0 intothe position shown, resting steadily in fixed position in contact withthe bumper or backstop 0, which may be cushioned with anysoft substanceto prevent noise, ready to be acted on by the next arm B, to again drawdown the sash and shave off another shingle from the block.

I is the knife. lar, as shown, because it works with greater certaintyand ease, and has less tendency to render the shingles shaky. Beneaththe knife, upon the sash, are three guide-bars, J J J. The two sidebars. are lettered J, and the central one J. The latter projects fartherthan the side bars, so that when the face of the block is in contactwith the central bar and one of the side bars, its face is slightlyoblique to the knife, and the shingle cut from it will be thicker at oneend than at the other. 7

Then, before the knife descends to cut off another shingle, the block,while kept in con tact with the central bar, is rocked horizontally, soas to bring it in contact with the other side bar, and so the shinglesare out from the I block with the thick and thin ends alternating, asdescribed.

I claim no novelty in this way of cutting shingles from 'a block, butonly in the con I prefer to make this angustruction and arrangement ofthe sash-bars J J J as a means for the accomplishment of this purpose.

The rigid guide-bars dispense with the need of a rocking gage, and aregreatly superior to a rocking gage in several respects, one of the mostimportant of which is, that no harbor is afforded for chips, which areliable to fall behind the gage and. obstruct its motion.

The uprights in which the sash works are shown at K, and k 70 indicatethe sash-guides. These guides are set at such inclination that theshingles will tend to fall away from the block, as shown. I

The table is preferably inclined at right angles to the inclined guides7c 70, and consists of two parts, L M. The part L is fixed to theuprights K; but the part M is made adjustable to and from the sash, andalso vertically. The part M is secured upon that L by set-screws, whichpass through slots m in it, and which also extend through holes in thepart L, beneath which they carry thumb-nuts m.

It will be seen that the slots allow adjustment of the part M to or fromthe knife.

The edge m of the part M which is next the knife is beveled, so as toleave an acute angle at the upper side, to insure support to the underside of the block in close proximity to the cut of the knife as itissues from the block, and prevent the splinter-ing of the block andshingle.

The operation is as follows: The rotation of the wheel A brings the armsB, one after another, in contact with the arm 0 of the rockshaft. Thearms B carry the arm 0 a certain distance, (sufficient to cause theknife to pass through the shin gle-block upon the table L M,) and thenthe arm 0 escapes from the arm B, and is thrown back by the spring H, asdescribed, against the bumper or back-stop C, where it rests steadily inreadiness for the stroke of the next of the tappet-arms B.

It will be seen that as the arms B are acting on the arm C the tendencywill be to lift the side of the wheel A which is contiguous to the armC. To prevent this tilting of the wheel, 1 form upon it a circularbearing, A which runs around upon one or more rollers, O, beneath thehearing at the side opposite the arm 0. r

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination, with the knife I and sashG, of the rigid guide or gage bars J J and J, constructed and applied asand for the purposes set forth.

2. The combination of the vertically-reciprocating cutter G I,rock-shaft D, pulley E, chain F, lever O, tappet-wheel A B, and theback-stop or bumper G, substantially as and for the purposes specified.I

3. In combination with a vertically-recipm eating cutter, atappet-wheel, and a rock-shaft and lever for communicating motion fromone to the other, the supporting-roller O, for bracin g the tappet-wheelagainst the deflectin g vertical pressure of the inclined lever as theknife goes through the block.

HENRY T. DAVIS. Witnesses:

J. E. PERRY, PETER BUGER.

